Giving Flowers Brightens Retiree`s Life

It is a gift from the heart, a quiet gift born of Ernie Goldblum`s compassion.

More than two years ago, the plight of an 87-year-old man who lay in a hospital bed for weeks without a visitor touched Goldblum, who was visiting a relative in the next bed.

A short time later, Goldblum bought flowers for the man -- and for all the other patients in the 160-bed Delray Beach Community Hospital. Then, with the staff`s blessing, he delivered the flowers and added a few words of encouragement for each recipient.

Goldblum, now 65, hasn`t stopped delivering flowers. At least once a week he spends about $100 for the petunias and candy he takes on what has been called his walk of compassion.

``You must leave this world a little better than you found it,`` said Goldblum. ``For me to be permitted to go into the hospital is a privilege because it leaves me with a small degree of fulfillment.``

Goldblum seldom talks about his hospital visits. Even some of his close friends at the Del-Aire Country Club, where he is an active member, are not aware of his volunteer trips.

``Probably only 25 percent of the people know he does it,`` said one friend.

Goldblum prefers it that way.

A retiree who left the insurance and jewelry businesses to take care of a sick wife, Goldblum moved to the area in 1982. His wife died in October 1983.

Goldblum`s trips to the Delray Beach hospital are partly a repayment for outpatient treatment his wife received. Goldblum has nothing but praise for the hospital staff.

The visits, he said, bring him more satisfaction than than his other activities.

``To have my life dissipated by playing golf and cards wasn`t sufficient,`` he said. ``I myself get more out of it than the patients.``

At the hospital, Goldblum is a welcome visitor.

His warmth and kindness are greeted with enthusiasm by veterans on the hospital`s nursing staff.

``It`s such an unbelievable situation that anyone would care for another human being to the extent that this gentleman does,`` said Alicia Kimmerle, a head nurse. ``He`s just a very kind and generous man.``

Kimmerle said nurses, as well as patients, look forward to Goldblum`s visits.

``We see the positive that is reflected in the patients because of his generosity,`` she said. ``He`s just amazing. We love him.``

On his visits, Goldblum takes time from pushing a cart of bright flowers through the colorless hospital corridors to stop and talk to patients.

``Ernie`s always in a hurry, except when he wants to stop and talk,`` said his girlfriend, Anita Penzer, who also makes the trips.

``She brings the beauty,`` he said, smiling. ``I bring the charm.``

Penzer is almost always at Goldblum`s side when he makes the visits, and he praises her for overcoming an aversion to hospitals, which she felt after the loss of her husband.

During his visits, Goldblum`s conversation is laced with bits of humor, and he is not beyond flirting with the patients.

``Look at you, you`re the picture of health,`` he said to one bedridden woman.

But the trips through the hospital don`t always evoke smiles. A somber Goldblum may emerge from a room shaking his head.

``You don`t know how lucky you are sometimes,`` he says.

Goldblum has the patience to listen to people who need to talk, yet he has a knack for knowing when not to joke and when it is time to leave a patient alone.